Discussion

Mavericks [Hong Kong]

In a city with thousands of restaurants and many many beaches (yes we have beaches) its odd that we have so few beachside bars and restaurants let alone good ones. So its great news that a new one has opened on Pui O Beach on Lantau.

Its a new one from Austin Fry who originally cheffed at Brickhouse (was good Mexican but IMO the food seems to have gone downhill since he left) and then at Roundhouse a decent craft beer place with southern BBQ. Its ethos is also to focus on local producers and local food. So definitely high expectations.

Named after the Mavericks break in Northern California the place has lots of surfing decor and its done pretty well (Jay Fc the designer behind a lot of new places in HK is responsible). Its right on the beach with a decent deck looking across to the water and not too much to an ordeal to get to from Central.

Its been open a couple of weeks so still settling down. The staff are really great, lots of enthusiasm and very efficient. The drinks menu is decent with some "Young Master Ales" brews on tap, unfortunately they misjudged the Easter weekend so one was already out and the other went by mid afternoon. The cocktails are good and wine looked interesting although we didn't head there.

The food is interesting with a mix of beach classics like a burger and fish and chips plus some wacky takes on other dishes like lettuce wraps, sliders and Won Ton Nachos. Some dishes are good - the fish in the fish and chips is especially good and you can tell its not pre-prepped out of the deep freeze like 99% of other HK bars.

The other dishes are OK but nothing special, which is a bit disappointing because Austin can turn out some fantastic food. For example the burger was only barely OK nothing like the standards being set at Beef & Liberty or Tipping point. They make a point of saying the make their own patties and other things but it didn't really show. Hopefully these are simply teething problems and it will settle down allowing Austin to work his magic.

Overall its a great addition to the HK bar/beach scene and it should be very popular. I did read one online review that found it expensive saying it was "Soho prices on Lantau" I must say I do agree its far from cheap with draught beers (not pints) in the $70 to 80 range.

We had a great afternoon but racked up $800 per head bills which takes the edge of the chilled beach side atmosphere. If the food had been great then OK, but at the price point its got to be spot on and it isn't yet.

Thanks for the review. Looks like most new restaurants opening in HK these days are expensive. I dined at Bibo tonight and it also charged somewhat higher prices than I had expected. Food was solid, but nothing really extraordinary to justify the prices. Ended up paying HK$1,200 for a glass of champagne, a bottle of water, poached egg, pan-fried foie gras, Japanese pork, and dessert. I thought I would rather go to Robuchon during lunch hour to spend that kind of money, just IMHO.